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A Systematic Review of Gamification Research: In Pursuit of Homo Ludens
No full textGamification is an innovative approach that aims to increase users' engagement and motivation and provide sustainable experiences. It has recently become widely known and is an approach that is being used in many fields. This article intends to identify and map trends and patterns in gamification research. For this purpose, this article employs a systematic review in which document and content analysis were used. Research findings have revealed that conceptual/descriptive papers outweigh other type of papers; however, quantitative and qualitative papers are showing an increasing trend. Lexical analysis demonstrated that education, teaching, and learning; engagement, motivation, and behavior change, and gamified designs, are emerging concepts. Keyword analysis revealed that gamification, engagement, and motivation are most frequently used keywords. Gamification articles are mostly related to the education field. Self-Determination Theory, Flow Theory, and MDA (Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetic) Framework appeared to be the most beneficial lenses in gamification studies
Neurobiology of Well-Being
No full textThis chapter is designed to review much of the research on the neurobiology of well-being. A distinction between hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being is made. The brain reward center was discussed in relation to well-being, which was followed by an in-depth discussion related to drugs, neurotransmitters, and well-being. Neurochemicals related to hedonia and eudaimonia were then discussed, followed by another discussion on gene expression. Finally, brain structures involved in well-being were the discussed followed by concluding thoughts
Mobile Learning as a Tool for Indigenous Language Revitalization and Sustainability in Canada: Framing the Challenge
No full textIn this article, the authors explore how mobile learning can complement the Certificate of Indigenous Languages program at the University of Saskatchewan in Western Canada. Through the FRAME model analysis, the authors extract salient cultural, pedagogical, environmental, and technological characteristics that should be considered in the development of mobile learning tools and approaches for Cree language teachers. It is hoped that this article will stimulate a dialogue amongst designers and Indigenous groups regarding language sustainability through mobile learning. The article concludes with key findings: the need to follow protocols, to establish good relationships, and to design for areas of low/no bandwidth. Finally, the examination of current Indigenous language learning methods provides ideas for the development of much needed “apps” appropriate for Cree learners and teachers
Technology and the Preparation of Students
No full textThe evolution of technology has situated learning to create a ubiquitous environment. The progression of technology will require preparation of students and teachers for the 21st century, including post-secondary students, necessitating a fundamental and systematic change for learning to become ubiquitous. Ubiquitous environments should be viewed through the lens of the learner and the learning environment. Equal access for all students should be prevalent so students can have access to mobile learning devices anytime, anywhere, thus, transcending the boundaries of the classroom. Integration of m-learning and ubiquitous technology in the K-20 classroom will require a new pedagogical framework for teaching and learning. At the heart of this framework, is the metacognitive teacher: a teacher who is metacognitively aware of the affordances and challenges of technology in education
A Systematic Review of Mobile Health in Education From 2000 to 2016
No full textThis article aims to examine the mobile health (mHealth) in education articles in journals covered by the SSCI and SCI-EXPANDED indices between 2000-2016. Five hundred and ninety-four (594) articles have been analyzed with a systematic review method. The change of the articles by year, the distribution according to the countries, universities, authors, citation analysis, and research fields were examined. As a result of this research, it was determined that the articles and citations have tended to increase rapidly after 2012. The US plays a pioneering role in this field, the universities in the USA publish most of the articles on the subject, and the USA-based authors dominate the field. In addition, it has been determined that mHealth-related articles tend to increase in undeveloped and developing countries, where mHealth projects are concentrated. Finally, based on research findings, some suggestions were made for researchers, developers and practitioners
Improving Park Maintenance Efficiency Using a Mobile Application
No full textThis article describes the construction and evaluation of a mobile application for use by park maintenance personnel that features an interactive map allowing for real time positioning of the user in relation to equipment locations, and the ability to create, view, and edit maintenance logs. The application was evaluated by the Park Services department of the City of Kelowna in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. The results of the study demonstrate that numerous tasks, especially locating equipment and logging maintenance, can be more efficient using mobile technology. Further, technicians are receptive to the introduction of technology in their work schedules and find it easy to integrate into their routines. An analysis of the time savings shows that the technology may save technicians 15 to 50 minutes daily which translates to thousands of dollars annually in savings per technician and increased productivity rates
GEView (Gene Expression View) Tool for Intuitive and High Accessible Visualization of Expression Data for Non-Programmer Biologists
No full textThis article describes how the last decade has been characterized by the production of huge amounts of different types of biological data. Following that, a flood of bioinformatics tools have been published. However, many of these tools are commercial, or require computational skills. In addition, not all tools provide intuitive and highly accessible visualization of the results. The authors have developed GEView (Gene Expression View), which is a free, user-friendly tool harboring several existing algorithms and statistical methods for the analysis of high-throughput gene, microRNA or protein expression data. It can be used to perform basic analysis such as quality control, outlier detection, batch correction and differential expression analysis, through a single intuitive graphical user interface. GEView is unique in its simplicity and highly accessible visualization it provides. Together with its basic and intuitive functionality it allows Bio-Medical scientists with no computational skills to independently analyze and visualize high-throughput data produced in their own labs
Study on E-Commerce Adoption in SMEs Under the Institutional Perspective: The Case of Saudi Arabia
No full textThis article investigates and discusses the institutional factors influencing decisions of e-commerce adoption in Saudi small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from the temporal view. This article has been conducted in two phases: a full survey in 2013 and the follow-up targeted interviews in 2016. The analysis results demonstrated that there is a clear difference between initial e-commerce adoption and institutionalization in SMEs in terms of institutional predictors. When e-commerce was at its infant stage, governmental support and well-defined legal and regulations system were instrumental and served as mainly institutional forces to encourage firms to adopt e-commerce. As time went on and e-commerce became more business-driven, these effects become less important, even insignificant; instead of these, perceived market forces and perceived social awareness of e-commerce emerges as critical contributions to push SMEs to engage in e-commerce more sophisticatedly
The Edgeworth Cube: An Economic Model for Social Peace
No full textSocial peace is an asset to every society. Its absence endangers the well-being and the safety of the population and the stability of states. In order to better understand the interdependencies of poverty, social peace and migration pressure the authors introduce the model of the “Edgeworth-Cube” which is an extension of the classical Edgeworth Box model by one dimension. This new dimension can either be interpreted as “aggression” (which reduces “social peace” for others) or as “migration pressure” (which results from a worldwide heterogeneous distribution of wealth), and this new dimension is modelled as a non-budget-constrained unilateral immaterial good. The “Edgeworth-Cube” also differentiates vital (essential) goods from normal (non-essential) goods. By focusing on extremely imbalanced endowments and by formal mathematical modeling the authors show in their approach that applying behavioral pressure (i.e. aggression or migration pressure) has an existential economic value for the poor on the one hand. On the other hand, the authors show that transfer payments have a systemically limited potential to keep aggression and migration pressure at bay
Acceptance of an Online Voting System at the Catholic University Institute of Buea
No full textIncreasingly, more software is developed locally, to address the needs of the developer's immediate community and yet little research has been done regarding their acceptance. The technology acceptance model (TAM), which has greatly been used in literature, failed to consider some cultural particularities of such software. Furthermore, most research has focused on the acceptance of foreign technologies in Africa. The primary objective of this article, is to investigate the validity of TAM for locally developed software within a community. The article utilizes quantitative methodology based on data gathered using a modified version of a published survey instrument; as well as Short Message Service for the collection of qualitative data. The findings concur with previous studies on technology acceptance and the raises interests on the use of qualitative data for understanding the context of technology acceptance